This article provides best practices from experienced Head Referees. Some are specific to this season's game, and others reinforce guidance from the VEX IQ Robotics Competition Head Referee Guide and the Head Referee certification course.
Last updated on October 30, 2025
Before the Event
- Communicate with the Event Partner about your needs
- Head Ref & Scorekeeper shirts
- Lanyards or name tags
- Anti-fatigue mats or field tiles to stand on
- Tablets for scorekeepers
- Quantities of scorekeepers (at least 1 per teamwork and skills field field)
- Install the Referee FYI electronic match anomaly log on your mobile device (not required, but recommended!); every violation has to be recorded on a paper or digital log
- Review the Q&As, especially those that are new or linked in the game manual
- Help set up and check fields if possible
- Ask the EP to provide a 'trainee' head referee to work alongside you to grow the skills of your region
- Prep for the event meeting (here’s a starting point and some best practices)
As Volunteers Check In
- Train robot inspectors
- Train skills scorekeepers
- Train teamwork scorekeepers
- Train field resetters
- Train queuers (might be handled by the EP)
- Know the agenda so you can stay on time
Robot Inspection
- Lead robot inspection if it’s possible; at a minimum provide some training for inspectors before they start
- If you have enough inspectors, it can help to break the process down into multiple specialized stations
- Sizing & expansion - works best if you use a field to check the horizontal measurements; you can build a simple tool out of IQ parts to check the 15” height limit
- Software check
- General parts check
- Use a zip tie, sticker, or other marker to signify that the robot has passed inspection if requested by the EP
Field Setup and Pre-Match Checks
- Check starting positions, sizes, and preloads
- Remember that students must set their robot up from outside of the field, and there’s a rule (S1) against stepping into the field
- GG1 - no powered earbuds or headphones; need to enforce that locally; good thing to have your queuers check if possible
During Teamwork Matches
- Some teams want to adjust/rotate pins before the match, especially those on starting pegs (disallowed by the note in GG4)
- Have one person keep an eye on each Load Zone
- Don’t worry about or penalize for pins that shift minutely away from the load zone after the student puts them in a good position
- Track object statuses at the end of the match; be sure you know what actions happen before and after the timer reaches zero
- To avoid affecting stacks, controllers shouldn’t go on the field at the end of the match—simply put them on the floor or tell students to exit the program (push the power button twice) then put them on the floor
Skills Matches
- Make sure your skills referees know to check with you for any rules calls or scoring edge cases
Pro Tips and General Best Practices
- Most importantly, don’t forget that these are young kids, and give them time and the benefit of the doubt when you can
- Your role is to help teams play their best game
- Head Referees should prevent teams from breaking rules if possible (verbal warning if you see a violation about to happen); DQs should be rare
- Do everything you can to have the team(s) verify the score/counts before they leave the field
- If you make a ruling or judgment call on a gray area, be sure you apply the same ruling consistently during the event
- IQ teams are still trying to adjust to having 3-member drive teams and match loads; be patient and kind
- Running a “coaches Q&A” for the 2nd half of lunch or while people eat before matches resume can give new coaches an opportunity to ask and learn
- Elevated fields help a lot with this game, and are recommended if you have the option
- The extra flat pins in the field kit can be used to mark the positions of scoring objects on the field for field resetters; if you have extra, you can mark both layouts on the same field by using single pins to mark locations for Skills Matches and pairs of pins to mark locations for Teamwork Matches